Sampling device for pulverizer-mills



' J. W. FULLER.

SAMPLING DEVICE FOR PULVERIZER MILLS.

APPLICATION FlL'ED DEC-M1918.

1 ,337,697. Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

4 INVENTOR mes WI L/Arr l A TTORNEYJ.

UNITED STATES PATENT o FIoE.

JAMES W. FULLER, OF CATASAUQUA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO EULLER-LEHIGH COMPANY, OF FULLERTON, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SAMPLING DEVICE FOR PULVERIZER-MILLS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

' Application filed December 4, 1918. Serial No. 265,217.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JAMES W. FULLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Catasauqua, in the county of Lehigh, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sampling Devices for Pulverizer-Mills; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Will-enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to improvements in pulverizer mills and is directed to the provision of a discharge spout for such a mill which is so constructed as to permit of the convenient removal of samples of the pulverized material while it is being discharged from the mill.

The invention is herein shown as applied to a Fuller pulverizer mill of the type shown, for example, in my United States Patents Nos; 849,779, 922,468 and 1,039,721. Pulverizer mills of that type have a pulverizing zone containing a race-way within which operate the pulverizing balls actuated by a series of rotating radial pushers, and the pulverized material is removed upwardly from the pulverizing zone largely by the suction of rotating lifting blades which lift the material into the field of a series of fan blades which float it against and through a cylindrical screen surrounding the upper part of the pulverizing chamber. After passing through the screen, the material falls into a chamber from which it is discharged through a spout, and this spout usually leads to some kind of a conveyer for trans ferring the pulverized material to any desired locality.

The miller is obliged to take samples of the material discharged by the mill from time to time, in order to determine whether it is being pulverized to the proper degree of fineness. It has heretofore been customary to provide a hole in the discharge spout and a removable cover for this hole. Machines of this general character are also provided with a platform near the top so that the miller may have easy access to the mechanism for feeding the material to the mill and the devices for controlling the operation of the mill. Inasmuch as a mill of the type referred to above discharges some air with the finely ground material, it has been a somewhat difiicult matter to .obtain a sample from the hole in the discharge spout. Furthermore, since this spout is located underneath the millers platform, it has been inconvenient to take samples and when the miller desired to do so, he was obliged to leave the platform and thus had no supervision of the feed going to the mill or the operation of the mechanism. The miller might even be disposed to neglect to take the samples as often as he should, owing 'to the inconvenience of getting down from the platform-and the loss of control over the material going to the mill at such times.

In accordance with the present invention, I provide a discharge spout having a sampling pipe which permits the miller to take samples while standing upon the platform. The sampling pipe is so constructed that all he has to do is to lift a lid closing the top thereof, insert a sampling receptacle which generally consists of a small can attached to a rod, and after the can has received the necessary amount of material, it may be withdrawn from the sampling pipe and the lid closed. The sampling device also possesses the advantage that there is no escape of dust or air when the lid is open. This is due to the fact that an air chamber is provided above the conveyer so that when the lid of the sampling pipe is lifted from its seat, air is drawn in through the sampling pipe, in stead of being blown out through it, and this causes all of the dust to be drawn along with the stream of material through the discharge spout into the conveyer.

Other advantageous features of the invention and the particular nature thereof will appear more clearly from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a pulverizer mill, partly in section to show the interior mechanism, while the discharge spout and sampling device of the present invention are shown in section, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the upper end of the sampling device with the cover thereof in closed position.

Referring to-the drawing, 10 represents the 'base of the machine and 11 a standard upon the top of which is a casing 12 surrounding the grinding mechanism. On top of the casing 12 is a frame'13 which supports the screen 14 through which the material is discharged. The frame has on its of any suitable construction adapted to feed the material to the mill in any desired quantity, this feeding device being preferably provided with controlling mechanism whereby the miller may regulate the amount of material fed to the mill.

The upper end of the shaft 17 is preferably provided with a series of pulleys 20 and a second series of reversely arranged pulleys 21 ismounted upon a suitable support 22 attached to thecover plate 15. By shifting the position of the belt 23 upon pulleys of different diameters, the speed of the feeder 19 may be regulated as desired. A platform 25 is mounted upon a frame-work comprising vertical columns 26 and horizontal girders 27, the platform being provided with hand rails 28. The platform should be of such a height as to permit the miller to conveniently reach the feeding device 19 and the speed control mechanism mounted upon the top of the mill. The platform is of course, provided with a stairway or ladder (not shown) leading to the floor. It

Mounted within the interior of the casing 12 and resting upon the bottom 29 thereof is an annular concave grinding ring 30, and

between this ring and the outer wall of the casing 12 is an annular passageway 31 opening at itsupper end just outside of the screen 14 and at its lower end opening into 7 a chamber 32 beneath the casing 12, and from which pulverized material may be removed through a spout 33 attached'to the side of the casing. The spout 33 is provided with an upwardly extending portion 34 which is preferably formed integral with the portion 33 of the spout, and which forms the lower or base section of the sampling pipe. The upper portion of the sampling pipe consists of a section 35 provided with a flange adapted to be bolted to a corresponding flange at the end of section 34. A gasket 36 formed of asbestos, or any other suitable material, should preferably be inserted between the two sections of the sampling pipe. The top of the section 35 is provided with a flange 37 having two'pairs of diametrically opposite upstanding lugs 38. A lid 39is provided for covering the top of the sampling pipe, and this lid is provided with a lugadapted to fit between the lugs of one pair 38 and to be permanently pivoted thereto by means 'ofa suitable bolt 40. Diemetrically opposite the first named lug is a second lug adapted to enter between the lugs same patents. sweep 51 provided with a number of vertical of the opposite pair 38, and this lug on the cover may be attached to the fixed lugs by means of a bolt 41 which, however, should be arranged so that. it may be removed whenever it is desired to lift the cover. it will be understood that either one of the bolts may form the fixed pivot of the cover, while the fastening bolt may or may not be used, the weight of the cover holding it in place against any lifting tendency of air within thedischarge spout. In order to inare supported upon the shaft 17 and -'com- I prise a frame or yoke 47 provided at its lower end with radial arms to the outer ends of which are connected pusher members for engaging and driving the grinding balls 48 as the shaft is rotated. The radial arms are clearly shown in my patents referred to above, but are not shown in the view of Fig.

1. The upper portion of the frame or yoke 47 carries a number of lifting blades 49, and above the lifting. blades are radial fan blades, which do not appear inFig. 1 since they are within the casing 13, but are of a construction similar to that shown in these The shaft 17 also carries a blades 52, the purpose of which is to agitate the material in the chamber 32 and promote a more complete discharge through the spout 33.

In the operation of the apparatus, the shaft and moving parts are driven by a belt passing over pulley 18 and the desired ma 'terial is gradually supplied to the machine by the feeding mechanism 19 under the control of the miller who stands upon the platform 25., The screen 14 is of a mesh such as to permit thepassage therethrough of par ticles of the intended size. If in the material supplied to the upper portion of the machine, there are particles small enough to pass through the mesh of the screen, theseparticles are driven outby the blades on the yoke, are caught by the outer wall surrounding the screen, and then fall through the passageway 31 into the chamber 32 from which they are discharged through the spout 33 and the pipe 45 to the conveyer 48. Particles that are too large to pass through the screen fall into the pulverizing zone between the grinding. ring and the balls where they are reduced in size. The ground mateeration.

,veyer, and hence when the I practice.

rial is elevated from the zone of operation of the grinding ballsv by the suction effect produced in the upper or screening chamber, where the particles are driven through the screen 14 by the fan blades on the yoke. The inclined. lifting blades 49 also aid in lifting material into the region of the fans. Any material lifted out of the v grinding which is still too coarse to pass through the screen 14 finally falls again into the grinding zone and is subjected to another pulverizing opwhich has been pulverized to the required degree of fineness passes through the screen 14: and falls into the chamber 32 from which it is discharged into the spout 33 in a constant stream.

Whenever the miller desires'to obtain a sample of the material as it isbeing discharged from the mill, he lifts the lid 39 after removing the lockingbolt 41, if such a bolt has been used. The lid' may be then swung about the bolt 40, and the. miller inserts a sampling can through the spout and into the path of the material being discharged from the machine. When the can is filled, it is'removed for examination and the lid is' turned down to cover the end of the sampling pi'pe. With the arrangement here shown, there is a down draft of air through the discharge spout into the consampling tube is open, air enters the top of the same, instead'of being blownout; thus the escape of any of 'thepulverized material or fine dust which fills the discharge, tube is prevented and the miller may remove the samples without danger of having the material blown over him as might occur if the sample were removed through an aperture in t e pipe 45 in accordance with the usual The miller may thus obtain samples conveniently. and safely. If the looking bolt etliis dispensed with, any convenient tool forlifting the lid 39 may be cannot Ultimately all of the materialv used by the miller. Preferably the sampling receptacle is secured upon the end of a, long rod by which it may be lowered into the sampling tube quite conveniently. Thus it is unnecessary for the miller, in order to obtain a sample, to descend to the level below the platform 25 from which he properly supervise the operation of the mil It will be understood that various changes may be made inthe details of construction of my combined discharge spout and sampling device Without departing from the principle of the invention.

claim: v

1. In a pulverizer mill having grinding mechanism and a chamber adapted to re ceive the material after it has been pulverized, the combination of a discharge spout communicating with the chamber and -somprising a downwardly directed portion through which material and air are discharged from the chamber and deflected in a downward direction, and an upwardly directed extension through which samples of material may be removed from the spout without the escape of air, and a cover attached to the top of the extension for normally closing the same.

2. In a pulverizer mill having grinding mechanism and a chamber adapted to receive the material after it has been pulver ized, the combination of a discharge spout leading downwardly from the chamber and through which -material and air are discharged from the chamber, said spout being provided near its upper end with an up wardly directed extension through which samples of material may be removed from the discharge spout, a lid attached to the JAMES W. FUL ER. 

